POPPY FAMILY. 



41 



1. A. Mexico/ na, L. Leaves sessile, 

 siniiate-lobed with prickly teetli, blotch- 

 ed M-ith white ; petals white or pale 

 yellow. 



Mexican Aegemone. Prickly Poppy. 



Annual or biennial. Stem about 2 feet high, 

 branching. Leaves 3-5 inches long. Sepals 

 hooded at the apes and terminated by a stout 

 spine. 



Gardens and waste places. Naturalized from 

 tropical America. June - October. 



0^5. This is but sparingly natural- 

 ized in the Xorthern States, though it 

 is a common weed at the South. It is 

 sometimes cultivated in gardens, and 



should not be allowed to escape, as it has a strong propensity to travel; 

 having made its way from tropical America to Asia, Africa, and the 

 South Sea Islands. * 



19 



3. CHELIDO'XIUM, L. Celandine. 



[Greek, Chdidon, a swallow ; its flowers appearing with 

 that bird.] 



Sepals 2. Petals 4. Stigma 2-lobed, sub- 

 sessile. Pod linear, smooth, 1-celled, opening 

 from the base by 2 valves. Seeds conspicu- 

 ously crested. Perennial herbs with brittle 

 sterns, an acrid yellow juice, small yellow 

 flowers and divided leaves. 

 1. C. Ma'jiLS, L. Leaves twice pinnatifid, 

 glaucous ; flowers in umbel-like clusters. 



Greater Chelidonium. Celandine. 



stem about 2 feet high , branched . Leaves 3-5 inches 

 long. I'ods about an inch in length, torulose. 



Fence rows and waste places. Native of Europe. 

 May -August. 



Obs, A common weed about dwellings. 

 Its very brittle stems, when broken, exude 

 a saffron-colored strong-smelling juice, which 

 is very bitter and acrid. The plant was at 

 one time much extolled as a remedy for 

 jaundice, but little use is made of it, except 

 that the fresh juice is occasionally applied to 

 warts. * 



so 



Fig. 19. A capsule of the Prickly Poppy (^Argemone Mexicana) , opening by valves at 

 the top. 20. Celandine (Chelidonium majus), summit of a flowering branch. 



